Mosquitoes stay in the area where they are born, about a 150 foot range. To drastically reduce the number of them, we place traps around our yard in late Spring to prevent the larvae from hatching. To see our Love for a Country House YouTube channel, follow this link.
If you can catch the first wave early it’s very good, but you can also set these traps all summer to minimize swarms of mosquitoes.
For one trap we used a galvanized pail. It’s a nice match with our cottage garden style.
We add water but leave enough room at the top for a few inches of rainfall.
By leaving room at the top, the trap doesn’t tend to overflow. Meanwhile, it evaporates on dry days too.
Next, we add a MosquitoDunk™. For this small amount of water, you only need a quarter Dunk, but they are inexpensive. We’ve used a whole Dunk so you can see it clearly.
Dunks are safe for use around fish and birds, however, we’ll make these traps extra secure.
We place a wire basket on top to deter animals. It can be wired in place for extra security around small children. We usually let gravity hold the basket in place.
We place 2-3 traps on our quarter acre property. We get rid of other standing water after rainfall, and the mosquitoes naturally head for these traps.
This one is made of a vintage copper pot and a DollarStore basket.
It’s alright to let the water become stagnant. The female mosquitoes will like it more. But do try to refresh the Dunk about once a month to stay ahead of the mosquito hatching.
If you happen to get a bite, we’ve found that we can paint the bite once or twice with NewSkin Liquid Bandage and it will hold the allergen in place so that it doesn’t generate histamines that cause itching. What a relief! To see our Love for a Country House YouTube channel, follow this link. See you later!